Moment of Truth
by Ananma
Summary: Ran thinks everything will be fine when Shinichi Kudou suddenly comes back. But she could never have been more wrong.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to Gosho Aoyama. I own only this plot.**

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 **1\. Reunion**

Ran glanced briefly at her wristwatch before entering the classroom, out of habit than anything. _I am early,_ she realized. "Sonoko-chan's not arrived yet'', she thought, scanning the room for her friend. She suddenly froze.

A blond girl was staring straight at her with unblinking cold grey eyes. Ran's first thought was that she must be an American (she had seen such people in the States with Shinichi and his parents, Yusako and Yukkiko Kudou, who lived there, hadn't she?). But surprisingly the girl had Asian features. _She must have a foreign parent,_ Ran concluded. She dimly recalled Jodie-sensei telling her class about a new girl who was to join their class, when she had made the announcement that Shinichi Kudou would finally be coming back, a couple of days ago. _She must be the new girl,_ Ran thought, _what's her name? Shi- Shiho Miyano-yeah, that's it!_

Ran's curiosity and natural warmness made her head straight to Shiho Miyano, the new girl.

"Hey!" she said, "You must be Shiho Miyano. Welcome to Teitan High- you are new, aren't you?"

The girl nodded.

For a moment, Ran felt as if something hardened in Shiho's face as she looked at her; but a second later she was sure she had imagined it as Shiho Miyano returned her warm smile with an equally warm one of her own.

Relieved, Ran set her book-bag on the desk next to Shiho's.

"Pleased to meet you Ran, I have heard a lot about you", said Shiho, formally extending her hand. "Really?" said Ran taking her hand, confused, "From who?"

"From _whom_ ", corrected Shiho

"Remember me?" suddenly said a male voice, surprising both the girls. Ran swivelled around. Standing in front of her wearing his signature outfit: a button-down shirt and a navy blazer, a proud grin on his face, and a baseball cap drawn low over his face was...

"Shinichi!" exclaimed Ran, "Y-You are back!"She moved towards him as if in a dream. He grinned nervously and then...

"Ooff!"

Suddenly Ran was punching every bit of him she could reach.

"Ow! That hurts! Cut it out, Ran, will you?" said a shocked Shinichi angrily, trying to shield himself.

"No! You were away for months. _Months!_ Explain yourself!" yelled Ran, still punching him.

"Look, I'm sorry about that! I can explain!" said Shinichi.

"You do that," said Ran furiously, settling herself upon a chair.

Shinichi sighed. Some of the students had begun to stare by now. He waved a dismissive hand at them, "Please continue; nothing to see here". A few students laughed. Girls giggled. It was no secret that each girl had a major crush on Shinichi Kudou.

Ran frowned.

"Look," said Shinichi, trying to speak as quietly as possible, "As I told you before: I have been working on this case, and it was no easy one. It was bound to take time."

"A case, was it?" said Ran sceptically, "Tell me about it."

"What!" said Shinichi completely distracted.

"Tell me about it," repeated Ran, "If it really was a case, that is."

Shinichi was taken aback. He looked directly at Shiho, "I need your help on this one, Miyano."

Ran had totally forgotten Shiho in the excitement of Shinichi coming back. She looked at her now. "Wait," she said. "You two know each other?" she asked incredulously, "Shiho's a new student!"

"We met on the case Ran-kun," said Shiho softly. "Yeah!" Shinichi nodded, "Miyano-san -Shiho's a scientist." Ran snorted, "A seventeen-year old scientist! How ridiculous! But..."She turned to Shiho.

"Have we met before?" she asked. Shiho shook her head. "I'm eighteen," she said. "Shiho used to work for this organization", explained Shinichi, "Syndicate, actually. But now it's finished for good and she's on our side." Ran laughed dryly, "What are you not telling me, Shinichi? I understand if she's your girlfriend...but tell me the truth, do not lie, please...I am still your best friend; you can count on me."

Suddenly the bell rang for their first class; everybody hastened to their seats.

"I will talk to you after school; you have got to trust me," Shinichi hissed at Ran as he grabbed his book-bag, "But let me tell you this: you have got it all wrong."

 _You have got it all wrong_

Ran nodded; she couldn't think of anything to say but his last words kept ringing in her ears throughout the day.

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 **Author's note: This has been sitting in my computer for about 5 years now and I finally decided to put it out today. Please review, and thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing (except this plot)!**

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 **2\. Anticipation**

Two figures stood silhouetted against the evening sun, leaning against the compound wall of Teitan High. One was of a pretty blonde with cold grey eyes on her otherwise Asian face, the other one was of a young boy, the 'Detective of the East', otherwise known as Shinichi Kudou.

The girl by the name of Shiho Miyano looked at her wristwatch.

"She is late," she said in her high cold voice.

Shinichi shook his head. "She needs to understand", he said, almost to himself, his eyes on the street.

At that very moment, a young girl came racing down the street.

"Explain, then," she said huffing as she bent down to catch her breath, "I didn't cut karate practice for nothing, Kudou."

"Ran, Shiho's not my girlfriend; if that's what you think," burst out Shinichi angrily.

"You are hiding something, Shinichi, you owe me an explanation," shouted Ran, equally angry.

"Let's not fight," Shiho interrupted calmly, "She's right, Kudou-kun, you do owe her an explanation. We must tell her everything." Shinichi glared at Shiho and then took a deep breath, willing himself to control his temper. Of course Ran had to be difficult! What was he thinking?

He turned to Ran and said in a softer tone, "I guess it was wrong of me to keep you in the dark but you must understand that it was for your safety..." He paused here and looked questioningly at Shiho; she nodded once. Again taking a deep breath he said, "I was Conan." Ignoring Ran's shriek of horror, he went on, "Remember that day in Tropical Land...those men in black I followed? Well, I caught them as they carried out illegal transactions so they fed me a poison designed to kill me but it actually shrunk me..."

And so Shinichi narrated the tale to an incredulous Ran, with occasional help from Shiho. Suddenly he stopped to look at Ran.

"You don't believe me, do you?" He asked, concerned.

"As a matter of fact, Shinichi,'' said Ran earnestly, "I do!"

"I hoped so," said Shinichi, smiling quietly, "You had come so close to the truth...you remember...that day? Our date in the Beika Hotel? And so many times after..." "Yeah," said Ran, nodding. She turned to Shiho.

"So I guess that's why I thought we met before."

Shiho nodded, "You knew me as Haibara Ai."

Suddenly a spasm of pain shot through Ran's chest. Haibara and Conan. She remembered thinking maybe Haibara fancied Conan – the way she looked at him. She wasn't too sure about Conan though. But if Conan was actually Shinichi and Haibara, Shiho... she couldn't be so sure...

It became too much. She gasped, clutching her chest.

"Ran!" Shinichi started forward, worried. Shiho looked concerned, too, but she was frowning. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Ran said. Seeing that both Shinichi and Shiho weren't convinced and were looking at her suspiciously, she babbled on: "I was just wondering, you know, Ai's such an unusual name...it means 'love', right?"

"I guess," Said Shiho, shrugging indifferently, "I prefer 'sorrow' though; it's much more convenient." She bit her lip.

"Shiho..." said Ran, concerned placing a hand on the girl's shoulder. Shiho shrugged it off.

"I guess I'd better go," she said, at a shaky attempt at her usual cold manner, and ran off.

"She's upset."

Ran turned to Shinichi, nearly fighting off tears herself. Shinichi looked uncomfortable. "I know," he said, "C'mon we'd better get a move on, too."

"But Shiho...?"

"Don't worry; I'll talk to her later. Let's go!"

"Shinichi?"

"What?" Shinichi asked, turning around to look at her.

"I wanted to ask you..." Ran sounded nervous, "What was it? What was it you wanted to tell me that day in the Beika Hotel? You said it was something important."

Shinichi was baffled; _he_ had not expected this. He looked at Ran in horror. She gazed up at him and then turned away from him, sighing.

He took a deep breath. Suddenly a face flashed before his eyes, blonde and beautiful; how could he do this to her?

Shinichi's throat felt dry.

"Can I borrow your math notes?" He finally said, feeling stupid.

"What?" Ran turned towards him. "... notes...", his voice trailed off; Ran was already shouting. "You are such a jerk sometimes, Shinichi!" She said, her eyes flashing.

Shinichi took a step back, "Ran I need to go."

"No!"

But Shinichi was already running away without so much a second glance.

Ran stared after his departing figure; she felt a familiar prickling sensation behind her eyes. Above her the sky too opened up as if to reflect her mood. Slumping against the wall, the distraught girl closed her eyes letting the tears trail by.

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 **Author's note: I am waiting eagerly for the day when Shinichi returns once and for all. It's almost heartbreaking to see Ran's distress over him.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own nothing (except this plot)!**

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 **3\. Conflicted**

"Ran! Where have you been? I was getting worried, and why are you all wet? Haven't you an umbrella? It's almost eight - another five minutes and I would have called a police search for you!" Ran gazed blankly at her father's unusually anxious face.

"Where were you?" He urged her. Ran opened her mouth and closed it again. What should she say? That she stood half an hour out in the rain, sobbing helplessly, until a car pulled over and asked her whether she needed a lift home? As if her father would approve!

"Karate practice, you know, Dad," she said with a brave attempt at normalcy. But apparently Kogoro Mauri was not fooled. He opened his mouth as if to say something but quickly closed it. Sighing, he grabbed a towel lying on the sofa and tossed it to Ran. "Use it otherwise you will probably get pneumonia!" He said. Turning away from her he said, "Your eyes are red -you have been crying but I don't know what's wrong with you... " He paused, then looking directly at her said, "I hear that kid's back." When she didn't say anything, he continued carefully, "I don't know what has happened between you both but if that kid's hurt you again then I swear…"

"No _Dad_ ," she hadn't intended to shout but it came out as a high-pitched scream. "You don't understand."

"Oh, don't _I_?" said Mr Maury, "I am your _father_ young lady! You think I never saw you cry all those days? You were a wreck without _him_! You think I never saw you search for Kudo in Conan's face… " Ran winced; it was the first time her father had said Shinichi's name out loud. She had not expected him to remember Shinichi's name let alone how he looked like 10 years ago.

"… phone conversations begging him to come back," her father continued, "I can never forgive him for … for what he did to you! Never!"

"But Dad... "

"Oh yes," said Kogorou lowering his voice, "I heard about the Conan-business from Inspector Megure, but that doesn't give him the right to hurt you. Be reasonable, Ran."

Ran pondered over this; her father was apparently right but she had already forgiven Shinichi for all the times he had hurt her, his lies, broken promises… she was ready to forgive him… to start afresh… but was _he_?

Kogorou cleared his throat. "Dad?" Ran turned to him, still going over things in her head. Kogorou frowned then shook his head; this sort of thing was best suited to his wife or to be precise: his _ex-wife,_ Eri, but in this case it was necessary, no, absolutely imperative to take stock of the situation and figure out how best to deal with it. Kogorou mulled over things, smiling slightly as he thought of ways to deal with the situation, the most tempting one being a judo kick right in Kudou's gut.

He sighed. Maybe _that_ would probably not go down well with Ran. He stood up. "Why don't you have a bath? I will have dinner ready by then and then we can perhaps have a little tête-à-tête together, yes? Ran laughed, in spite of herself, "But you can't cook, Dad!" "No matter", Kogoro huffed, "We will order in some takoyaki… but don't tell your mom, okay? She still thinks I am learning to cook."

Ran let out a small smile. _He tries so hard_ , she thought to herself, _I must look happy – at least for his sake_. "Sounds great, Dad!" she said, aloud before turning away, "I'll be right back".

Kogoro's smile turned into a frown as soon as her back was turned. He picked up his cell phone and typed in a text.

 _It is as we suspected. He's back and she can barely handle it._

He hit 'Send" and proceeded to order dinner. _This would suffice for tonight_.

* * *

Her cell phone beeped. She frowned at the disturbance and peered at it over a pile of neatly organized files of her latest case – something about a wife suing her rich husband after running away with his money. It was a far cry from her usual sort of cases – which nearly always involved blood and gore – but fascinating nonetheless. Her work allowed her to engage with all sort of characters and no one knew more than her, about the complexities of human nature, about the various masks people wore – and to what extent they would go to preserve their masks. Here, the law sided with the woman but she had just the _most_ compelling evidence to prove the truth, she thought as she almost caressed a CD lying beneath her personal notes.

Smirking, Eri Kisaki leant over to pick her cell phone. A glance at it, and her smirk vanished as soon as it had formed.

 _It is as we suspected. He's back and she can barely handle it._

Her face softened as Eri, the famous lawyer, thought of her daughter. _I am sorry, Ran, but it seems that the women of our family have a streak of falling for men who break their hearts ._

Eri understood teenagers, especially the ones like Ran and Yuki's kid and _especially_ the serious sad ones like Shiho Miyano. Shinichi was essentially a good kid, but whatever he chose – there was nothing he could do except perhaps offer her daughter a shoulder to cry on.

A tear trailed down her cheek.

 _I won't have you suffer the way I did._

* * *

" **YA DID WHHAAATTT!"**

"There's no need to shout. I told you I need time to figure myself out!"

" **YA HAD ALL DA TIME IN DA WORLD!"**

"I have been in hiding for the past year but don't worry I have been working on how I feel towards whom. Man, give me a break!"

"Yer crazy Kudo," Heiji sighed, "Ya could've made it up to her and yet ya say yer _conflicted_. Hell, ya could've been at a date with her right now if only ya had not messed up!"

"I could have, wouldn't I?" Shinichi muttered, "I will think about it. Meanwhile, tell Kazuha to check up on her."

"I'm not tellin' her anythin'. It's yer mess, man, clean it up!" Heiji sighed, then rubbed his temples, "Yer looking at an illusion, boy, it won't work, that ojou chan and you. You both are too similar to truly get along. Any relationship would consume you both and drive you mad."

"If that is all you have to say Hattori, then there are matters I must deal with. Good night!" Shinichi said coldly as he slammed down the phone.

Hattori gazed at the phone. _Now what sort of behaviour was that._ "Kazuha!" he called out aloud. "What's it?" his girlfriend looked up from her homework.

"I need you to call Ran-chan soon and check on her."

"Roger that." She looked at the phone in his hand, and then at his face, "So it didn't go well. Ah, poor Ran-chan!"

"It's worse. He left her crying on the street. He fled from her, for crying out loud!"

"He didn't!" Kazuha was mortified. Heiji nodded morosely.

Shinichi Kudo tossed and turned in his bed. He couldn't sleep no matter how much he tried. He sat up, feeling breathless. It was a cold night yet a thin sheen of sweat covered him.

 _Conflicted. Why on earth did he tell Heiji he was conflicted?_

 _What should I do,_ he thought desperately. Ran, his dear childhood best friend – he couldn't live without her. She made him happy. He felt _alive_ when he was with her. He was lucky to have her. But Haibara – Shiho, he could just not forget her. Though he had known her only for a short time, a deep bond had been formed due to all they had been through together. She matched him in intelligence and wit like no other girl had, and he genuinely wanted to make her happy. Her absence in his life would be physical, like a pulsating ball of energy in his chest, which made him afraid. It would spread over him, consuming him and ultimately, break him. He could not lose her. And lose her he would, if he chose Ran.

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 **Author's note: Thanks to Laura, ads,** **Meitantei Shinku Ran Edogawa** **, and Guest for your kind reviews. It made me really happy. About the pairings, all I can say is that you need to stick with the story to find out. Things are not what they seem with Shinichi. However I can understand his confusion, can you guys?**

 **This chapter was a bit longer that the previous two. We get a little insight on the other characters here. I have tried to keep them as canon as possible.**

 **As always, read and review!**


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